


Wishes so bright (they blind you)

by LadyTehruGrey



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Academia, Gen, I don't even know where this is going, Inspired by Ann Aguirre's not-time travel ideas, Inspired by TheSinisterMan's ideas, Jane (Disney: Descendants) - Freeform, Magic, Making up a book because that's easier than writing dialogue, Pre-Canon, Pre-Descendants (2015), Subterfuge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28883361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyTehruGrey/pseuds/LadyTehruGrey
Summary: Jane isn't really supposed to be doing any magic - it's forbidden, after all - but a little carving here, a doodle there, a bit of delicate lady's embroidery: that can't hurt, right?Magic comes in all kinds, and grows no matter how much it's unwanted.This is my first post, ok? It's gonna be a bunch of random thoughts and cool ideas for this fandom, with exactly no cohesive plot.
Relationships: Fairy Godmother & Jane (Disney: Descendants)
Kudos: 9





	1. first there was a stitch

**Author's Note:**

> Please be nice, this is my first work.  
> I think I'll add little bits of chapters as I think of them, otherwise I'll never publish this.

It started with a needle. Doesn’t it always?

This one wasn’t pricking any poor princess’ fingers, just going in and out in careful stitches. 

_One for practice, two to double, three to keep this little one out of trouble._

No one finds what's hidden in that bag.

_Shine in the dark, soak in the light, nothing but a bit of ordinary._

Isn't it odd, how sleepy she is?

_Wrapping around this book thrice, it's just embroidery! Isn't that nice?_

There's so much to be learned when no one's looking.


	2. Instruction

There's a room full of books in Mother's study. 

She's not _really_ supposed to be there, but the Faery Godmother is gone doing her work: blessing little royals, practicing all that magic that Jane's been told to never-never-do.

_A Mage's Primer on Mental Control_

Boring title, bland cover, sitting behind some other books on the lowest shelf. Its absence won't be noticed, and it's small enough to hide between the back of her bed and the wall. Perfect.

There's no symbols, no incantations, nothing magical at all about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh by the way this stuff is absolutely not chronological.


	3. Focus

Magical acts rely on two things: intent and power. A mage cannot change the magnitude of energy that they can draw on internally, though there are some great workings that can be done in synch with others to amplify each other. Typically, a magical being or sorcerer uses artifacts of some kind or another to cast spells.

Unfortunately, the major kind of artifacts are often out of reach of most mages. The likes of tools like Wishing Fae wands and enchanted objects (mirrors, lamps) that hold spirits are far beyond the means and connections of any but royals and nobles.

Crafting your own enchanted objects can be difficult, too. My sister Hepthania's experiments often produce toxic gases, fire, explosions, and other unintended but still dangerous effects. Attempting to make tools of the magical craft should be reserved for a mastery project, or else should be done with the supervision and approval of your teacher. Of course, if you are reading this book, it is possible that you are pursuing the study of magic on your own, and not through official channels. If so, be careful and move slowly in your attempts to actually wield your powers.

The best method to learn to control your magic is through the mind. My own method of study for learning how to focus thoughts is detailed throughout in this book; please avail yourself of it, learn what you can, and pass this along to the next young mage in need of guidance. 

~ Shani Sarafkia, Mage of Ner Gwaii

Introduction to _A Mage's Primer on Mental Control_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still new to making my own works, so I did actually write a better chapter a few hours ago, but then accidentally deleted it. Whoops.


	4. Incomplete ideas of mine

Reaching out to her magic is _hard_ : it's not like an extra limb, it's like an entirely new sense. The instructions in the book are to first be able to shield, and then reach out, but there are so many warnings about accidentally cutting herself off from magic entirely.

For some reason, even the simplest exercises don't work well at home, but she can still read. Even if practice is out of the question, considering her mother's presence, it's still important to drill the concepts into her mind.

* * *

Of all the places to find a teacher, dance class seemed the least likely. Still, Miss Adira's "additional instruction" of ballet to certain students, that eerily parallels some of the theoretical forms in her book, centers her magic and her attention very well, and far faster than just meditation. When practicing movements in the corner of a park, Jane finds that her level of control over the movement of her body is tied into her control over magic: eventually, she can summon a light breeze with the twitch of a hand rather than a grand swoop of an arm.

* * *

Her best element is water. Any liquid, really. She somehow manages to connect the constant flow of it with stillness in her own form, makes the leap to movement-without-movement that's supposed to be an advanced concept.

At night, when she's trying to sleep, practicing the not-quite-twitches of her forms calms her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wish me luck on my chem paper, ok?


	5. Scraps

She's not really a princess, in everyone's else's eyes.

Not of any royal family, despite all those connections of her mother's, no titles to claim.

Perhaps in another world she might have been heir to a realm, a mighty mage, a Fae with the power to topple kings and princes... 

Now she's just a girl scrambling after the popular kids' scraps.

* * *

A twirl doesn't make a dancer.

A uniform doesn't make a perfect student.

A dress, a binding for the little wings that try to sprout from her back, shoes she can't run in, a roof to hide her away from the stars...

No matter how much she tries, and oh does she try, she won't be able to hide her magic forever.

* * *

Plain Jane.

It's amazing how much scorn they can heap into two words.

 _Ugly_ , they call her. _Silly_ , _too serious_ , others say. Sometimes she feels like she should reach out with all her power, unleash it on the worthless, see how they like it. But that wouldn't help her cause, it wouldn't do anything but hurt the others and their work.

* * *

She looked over the accounts. That's part of her mother's duties, and apparently taking over the control of an entire prison island will be her inheritance. How delightful.

Oh, the so-called 'census' should barely rank as one, but it's still full of information. Better still is the budget. It hasn't changed in a decade, but the population has, little 'Villain's Kids' cropping up here and there in the households. And the shipments haven't increased.

She wonders how the other children are faring, over there. When it's not easier to simply not think about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More bits and ideas.


	6. Minds of Stone

The art of mental shielding is a complex one. The simplest way to do it is a blunt-force shield. There are two ways to acheive this: either a no-thought state or an all-thought one, in which one's conscious figurative 'train of thought' is completely blank, or has something else running through all the time. For instance, a catchy tune that occupies all of the conscious mind, so strongly held that it cannot any spark other thoughts and be used as a bridge to memories, does very well. The more difficult state of mind is absolute blankness, which has the side effect of being a good intermediate step to trances and the necessary state for certain rituals.

Shielding one's mind while seeming to have no, or minimal training in it is extremely difficult. Simulating weak mental shields while letting out occasional thoughts or full stream of ideas plausible to the situation, faking or linking various memories, and so forth is the reason why most people only learn the blunt shielding technique. One problem often encountered is that it's hard to focus on a false thought while also _not_ thinking simultaneously, _I'm hiding something_. Besides that, magic is typically required to be consciously in control of one's thoughts, and the means to create false links is not often taught. 

As discussed in T.S. Mann's _Hidden Minds_ , the practice of burying information within your psyche is an exceedingly dangerous one. It runs the risk of convincing yourself that something false is true, and of never retrieving the memory or idea that was hidden. Triggers to reveal what was hidden _must_ be chosen carefully, or else you might be overcome at an innopportune time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm drawing some ideas from TheSinisterMan's Prince of Slytherin series on AO3.


	7. Lights, pt. 1

Illusions are either among the easiest or the most difficult workings to do, depending on the method. The two major ways to create false images is to do so through visual trickery or through peoples' minds.

For either method, a strong imagination is required. As long as the affected minds can be nudged into the correct thoughts, then the mage can draw upon the person's own ideas. However, this must be done near-instantaneously, or else the person will notice that the ideas that they have are actualized, thereby revealing the illusion to at least one person. This technique also has the weakness of only working on specific people who are targeted, and will often fail against those who have strong mental defences. 

While more dependable as a magical method, working with light is far more difficult. The level of precision in the matter of colour, shadow, movement, how the surrounding factors -- wind, light sources, and so on -- affect the illusion is hard to keep up consistently. Beyond just those, the sheer level of concentration needed to apply the visual illusion to all angles of view takes a lot of practice. This can be useful for causing seeming hallucinations for a singular target, but it can actually be easier to hold the illusion for all angles than to try and compensate when the target is moving.

A beginner's technique is creating blobs of colour that hang in the air. Though it may seem childish, sketching out lines and geometric shapes on a wall or other flat surfaces is harder than it looks. Even two-dimensional illusions still have to hold up to a dome, or half-sphere field of view. This can be applied with, say, drawing straight lines on a field for others to play sports in. Holding the lines and keeping them from bending when a mage is distracted is considerably harder than it looks.

Once that has been mastered, a learner can move on to more complex exercises. Although memorizing long lists of ancestors tends to be reserved for noble children, constructing a family tree in mid-air can be an interesting test of skill. The mage must keep everything floating: names with letters that hold together and are legible (therefore, thin lines and precise ones, too), differently coloured lines to indicate relationships, all of the marriages and children in the correct order without mixing anything up.

Despite their simplicity, two-dimensional and non-detailed illusions can be highly effective. A repeating pattern of bricks can simulate a dead-end wall, or a patch of beige to blend in with a wall can be applied to an entire group of people. Of course, other aspects must be taken into consideration: how to avoid moving physical objects (like people) from bumping into illusions, masking the magical signature that would give away the whole thing, and so forth. But those are for another time.

_~ The Art of the Air_ , Leora White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that I'll try to work in actual plot and story soon.


End file.
